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The Fair Substitutes

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”: This means that the secrets of the Torah are revealed only to those who fear His Name, who keep His Glory with their hearts and souls, and who never commit any blasphemy. This is the third part of the concealment of the wisdom.

This part of the concealment is the strictest, as this kind of disclosure has failed many. From the midst of those stem all the charmers, whisperers, and “practical” Kabbalists, who hunt souls with their cunningness, and the mystics, who use withered wisdom that came from under the hands of unworthy students, to draw bodily benefit for themselves or for others.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is different from all the sciences of the world. Any other science is available to anyone at least to some extent, and if you don’t understand it today, then you will understand tomorrow. It doesn’t matter who you are by nature, you don’t have to change your character. For instance, a physicist may be a Nazi and misanthrope, or conversely, radiate kindness and generosity. In short, in every field of knowledge a person can move forward without changing himself.

On the other hand, the science of Kabbalah is attained only in the corrected vessels, meaning desires in the corrected properties. Therefore, people who just live in this world don’t understand it. How should I change myself? What should I change in myself? Indeed, regular studies do not help in Kabbalah, and lab experiments and practical parts acquire a very different character here. In this science, actions are performed not on a physical level and the analysis is conducted not by our present mind.

As a result, people don’t understand what the science of Kabbalah is. It really is hidden from them. It’s not even clear what it requires to overcome this threshold.

Kabbalists initially hid their books, wanting to save people from confusion. Indeed, many would study Kabbalistic texts in a vain attempt to get to the truth. “Maybe it is necessary to read at a certain time of day? Or perhaps memorize?” To avoid this, Kabbalists hid their science from humanity as if it never existed, and succeeded in doing so until a certain time, although problems still arose when some knowledge leaked out here or there.

So, the wisdom of Kabbalah is not understood by humanity or philosophers, and is incomprehensible to scientists. After all, before revealing the upper world, a person must change himself. But people, alien to this approach, have decided that it’s sufficient just to read Kabbalistic books.

The same thing happened with the Torah, which everyone rearranged in his own way, creating religions and beliefs to his taste and thus turning the “elixir of life” into the “potion of death.” Indeed, with this approach, we just destroy ourselves, sink into a greater egoism. Instead of attracting the Light, people prefer the “traditional” use of the primary sources in the hope that this will satisfy their self-love. Meanwhile, the Torah is given only to correct the heart in which the evil inclination rules.

In addition, there is another problem; Baal HaSulam writes that many, including scientists, still believe that simply by reading a Kabbalistic text, they understand what is written. People do not see the need to get a new mind; to become imbued with a new spirit, new feeling, and new attitude; to change their mentality, outlook; and to change their inner world. Without changing internally, they regard themselves as experts, write theses, and in general, talk “competently” about Kabbalah.

It’s a pity if a person stumbles on this shallow external approach to the issue. After all, only one who can first correct his own properties can understand Kabbalistic books. The science of Kabbalah was opened for everyone’s studies only in our days only for inner correction with the help of the Light that Reforms. Therefore, he who studies not to attract this Light for self-correction still doesn’t know what the Torah and its internal part, the science of Kabbalah, are. If a person doesn’t aim in this direction, the “elixir of life” turns in the “potion of death” for him.

Thus, not only do various “philosophers” reflect on the science of Kabbalah, but they also move away from the truth and confuse others. This is a pity when the thing that Kabbalists wanted to prevent takes place. Obviously the world needs a long path of correction before we are able to get rid of this debilitating flaw.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Where Is The Door?

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Letter 26: It is written, “A golden bell and a pomegranate all around the edges of the robe. … and its sound is heard when he enters the holy place.”

These are the stages of getting closer to the level of the great Cohen (High Priest). The great priest is a person who is in a state of absolute bestowal and who has nothing of his own and everything that he has is only in order to enter Holiness. In order to enter Holiness, he has to become a holy vessel, which means a corrected vessel, thus sanctifying his desire to receive as he has nothing for himself and everything is in order to bestow.

The “Ephod” (High Priest’s Robe) comes from the words “Ei Po Delet” (where is the door), since the Delet (door) is in the place of the opening, when it is closed.

In our world you can see a closed door and when you open it you can enter another room, the next new state. But it’s different in spirituality. There the opening, the door, and the person become one. It’s because everything is in me because the moment I change, I immediately discover the door. The door immediately disappears and becomes an opening, my entrance.

I don’t see all that on the outside. The moment I approach the next level, according to my attributes, my inner vessel immediately changes and becomes a door, an opening, and an entrance to the next new state.

In corporeality, you can see the door just as you can see the opening. But in spirituality, you see only the opening. But you cannot see the opening unless with complete and pure faith.

This means that one reaches bestowal. If a person corrects the desires that are revealed in him to bestowal, Then you see the door, and at that moment it turns into an opening because He is one and His name is “One.” My vessel and all the necessary conditions including the Light and the next level unite and become one whole, because He is One and His name is “One.”

It’s all very simple. The moment our vessel resembles the Light or resembles the next level, which means that I become like the upper level, it means that I approach the door, the opening, the entrance to the next level. Then it is He and His name is one for me.

He is the Light and His name is the vessel. When the vessel equals the Light in its attributes, they become one. So as I get closer to the upper attribute and enter it, it means that I “come to Holiness.” I become the great priest, the discernment in the soul that is freed of the desire to receive in order to receive and enters the complete state of in order to receive in complete faith. This entrance is possible only if we see things in complete faith. Complete faith means that my Light of Hassadim, that my desire to bestow, is so great that I not only work in GE, in bestowal, but also in AHP, in the desire to receive.

If I am only in the desires of GE,it means to bestow in order to bestow, and this is called faith. If I also work with the AHP, with the vessels in which I also receive in order to bestow, which means that I use my ego for the sake of others, it is called complete faith. Faith is Bina, the vessel of bestowal. This faith changes from simple faith, from “Don’t do unto your friend what is hateful to you” into “Love thy friend as thyself.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Science Whose Time Has Come

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe wisdom of Kabbalah is separate from all the rest of the sciences and human activities in this world. It is concealed from people. Simply studying the sources will not help us understand it. Kabbalah is not given to be learned alone for it requires personal guidance which will make it possible to truly learn it and attain what is said in the books.

Kabbalah is not just a science; rather, it is the wisdom of creation. And it is revealed with the help of a unique force that reaches a person, changes him, and fills him with the “Light” of the intellect and emotion, fills the brain and the heart. Only then does a person encounter the wisdom of Kabbalah and become a Kabbalist. And what he receives is called “Torah” or “The Light that Reforms.” This Light corrects him and gives him another nature compatible with discovery of the higher world. Within our present nature we discover only “this world,” the lowest level, which, in fact, doesn’t exist since it is entirely drawn by illusory perception of the desire to receive. When we acquire a desire to bestow, at this level, it will simply disappear.

The wisdom of Kabbalah talks about the entire process that a person must undergo to acquire characteristics that are compatible with a higher level; that is, the desire to bestow through which he will feel reality.

And the path begins from this world, specifically from the lowest level, where the person is completely detached from what he must attain. First of all it is up to him to correct his instruments of perception, and after that begin to investigate what he received and what he discovered. From here the advancement begins until a person reaches the source of all the Kelim, vessels, desires, and all the fulfillments within them, which is the Creator.

In order to bring the person to such a lofty result, the Kabbalists wrote books for us.

There are auxiliary books that talk about psychological discernments, like “Shamati,” “Dargot HaSulam,” “Shlavei HaSulam,” and the articles by Rabash and Baal HaSulam.

Likewise there are purely Kabbalah books like, The Book of Zohar with the Sulam Commentary, The Study of the Ten Sefirot or “The Tree of Life” by the Ari. The Kabbalists wrote them from an attainment of the upper worlds with new properties. They write them about what they feel, what they perceive, and what is not known to us.

But when we read these books, we can adapt ourselves; yearn to reach those emotions, those corrections, within our senses. And then the reading arouses the Light that Reforms on us, which is the Torah, that is, instruction, the method. When it reaches us, it corrects our intentions from “to receive” to “to bestow,” and then we can discover phenomena of a different order of magnitude and discover the “upper world.” Of course, this is not talking about distant galaxies or distant times; rather, it is about the comprehension of a qualitatively new reality.

I don’t know where the Light appears from; I don’t feel it; but I feel the phenomena it arouses. I begin to be changed; I suddenly feel a chain of elevations and descents, different states.

And after I am changed, I discover a higher reality, and then by reading in those books, I truly begin to be aware of what is written in them. Now I can point to those details that they describe.

Suppose that I bought a large and complex machine. Even though I have don’t understand the principles of its operation, but I have a technical approach and am ready to understand the instructions. With the help of the written instructions, I begin to become familiar with the diagrams and to understand the structure of the system until I learn it all.

The same thing happens to us in the second stage where we see the spiritual system and learn to work with it. This is practical, true work already, on the level of the upper world.

And in addition to that, the two main stages (the attraction of the Light that Reforms and the practical knowledge) are divided into a multitude of stages with accompanying conditions. For example, the wisdom of Kabbalah was forbidden for public consumption except for those who were already “ripe” for it.

In general, development must begin from zero, from the “big bang,” from which afterwards the substance of the still, vegetative, and animate were gradually developed  In continuation from the ape, which is the most developed in the world of the animate, emerged the human who ultimately reaches the final level of egoistic development. In other words, we are compelled to renounce, to disqualify ourselves, to recognize our evil, and only then are we ready for and worthy of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We see from the experience of history that we have always developed according to this scheme. For example, I move to a village, get involved with farming, building a home, a family, giving birth to children, buying cows and sheep, and after ten or fifteen years, or even less, I am fed up with it. Enough, I don’t want to continue anymore; I need something more than this. So I leave the farm and move to a city and start everything anew.

In other words, all development is based upon the nullification of the previous level and a desire to ascend to the next level. We must hate the present state. On the social scale this brings revolution and on the international scale the matter causes wars that sometimes continue for decades. We must always despair of the present state in order to pass to the next state.

So when will humanity despair of its egoistic development based upon reception “in order to receive” and move to altruistic development with an intention, “in order to bestow”?

The Kabbalists determined that this would occur in the twentieth century, after a number of conditions were established including the return of the people of Israel to its land. And then the time would arrive for the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Baal HaSulam also talked about this. We received permission to return to the land of Israel and also to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah. But not everyone will receive this permission but only certain people. For there are people who were not given a desire and there are those who have no connection to this. Other people were given a desire but were forbidden to realize it. But there are those who received the knowledge and it is also possible for them to act. More than this, divine providence pushes them in various ways to the discovery of the wisdom of Kabbalah as the generation is already suitable for this.

Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that all that he attained and discovered wasn’t derived from his personal achievements but because of the generation that was already required for this discovery.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Reconciliation Of Confronting Opposites

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is it possible that sages argue and cannot come to an agreement with each other?

Answer: If I don’t agree with someone it means that we have not reached unity. It’s not our brain that is the “guilty” party here. Our intellect only helps to clarify the degree of the detachment of our desires.

Naturally, we are always separated from each other and disconnected in our desires. There is a gap between us that doesn’t let us get closer. I don’t ask others to share my opinion! It’s better if we stick to our views and yet try to unite in order to please the Creator.

Everybody should retain their properties and opinions. However, we should rise above the desires and views that we have and connect above them; in other words, the Creator is the one who reconciles us. It doesn’t happen in this world, and we are unable to understand how it works. That’s why we think that arguments and fights among sages are really strange, particularly and especially the animosity that they feel towards each other.

Real hostility emerges because we come to the conclusion that we don’t have too much in common. We reveal the evil force that is called “Klipat Eimori” and see that it doesn’t belong to the land of Israel. Then, we break the Klipa and enter the Holy Land. By all means each of us still preserves their opinions and views. However, since we share a common goal, we stop arguing with each other.

We will always encounter problems since every soul is different. Even if the dissimilarity among us “weighs” only one gram or if we differ only in one property, we still will be opposite to others. Our work will also be different. That’s why we are opposite to and completely detached from each other. On our rise to the world of Infinity, there are no identical souls. We attain a huge common desire in which none of us is similar to others. Rather, all of us are overwhelmed with a terrible animosity that is caused by our complete dissimilarity.

At such a high level, we can connect with each other only through the Creator, not through the qualities that we share with others. The higher we rise, the clearer the understanding that we don’t have any connection with others becomes. It’s similar to the arguments that happen among great sages. The greater they are, the more furious their disputes and the more dissimilarity they sense. Common people are puzzled and do not understand why they argue about complete nonsense. However, for sages these issues are not trivial at all. These trivialities are in fact their entire reality, their whole world. It explains why they are unable to reach the agreement with each other.

Each of them acts in their own lines, which never cross. Connection among them is possible only through the Creator. The more advanced they are, the more rigid this requirement. When they reach the very last step it becomes possible for them to connect only through Him, so that “the One Who makes peace in Heaven establishes peace among us.”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/13, The Zohar

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Drones Are In Control Of The Nation

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Alexander Vladimirov, Major General, vice president of Russia’s board of military experts): “Due to the work of the creative part of society, people’s living conditions become safe and comfortable, the drones of society become socially more active because they do not have to spend time and effort to provide for themselves.

“Due to natural irresponsibility, they have a lot of free time, and they fill the entire information and public niches of society by themselves.

“Over time, their public activity fills national information space, blogosphere (social networks, the media) and forms ‘public opinion.’ They know everything, they talk ironically about everything, teach everyone how to live – and nothing can be done with them because it is necessary to be tolerant as this is the main feature of a modern civilized person.

“It begins to seem that precisely drones built the state; they are the main part of it; the country would be lost without them; they are the creators of all the national achievements. ‘Network hamsters’ – blogosphere triumphs, presenting the idols of modern times – bloggers, as the most active and irresponsible part of drones, who joyfully increase the pressure of blogosphere – public opinion (rating) – on the government and society in their own interests.

“Drones begin to consider themselves the basis of the people, who have an indisputable right to dictate lifestyle norms, the questions of national morality and begin to form the personnel policy of the state.

As a result of their actions:

– Drones come to power;

– The rights of drones are being formed in the domestic law;

– The basic spheres of national power are destroyed;

– The ability of people to evolve and be secure is reduced;

The people turn into a community of drones and consumers-parasites;

– The nation slides into degradation, and its historical time expires;

-Thus, a civilization disappears from human history.”

My Comment: These processes of the degeneration of society we see in all the countries. You can only imagine what will happen with the increasing numbers of unemployed; the “drones” will rise up, and society will be gradually destroyed. Only organizing all the members of society, except those needed for creating rational necessary goods, in the system of integral education and upbringing will be able to prevent this process.
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The Future Of Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is the desired picture of the future reflected in the textbook of integral education? Where is humanity headed?

Answer: The desired future of humanity is to learn systemic balance from nature.

Taking the entirety of nature as a standard, we need to make human nature integral like this, as it is in the world that surrounds us, for we are the most developed inner part of nature but egoistically developed, and this says that it is very bad. No matter what we do, we only destroy the space surrounding us. Therefore, if we begin to learn the integral laws of nature and want to live in harmony with it, this will be the best solution for our problem.

An integral society must live on two levels because a person consists of two parts: the physical body and the spirit that pulls him forward. This spirit now possesses an egoistic form. How can we balance it?

Our body must get all that it requires from nature in order to function normally, whereas the spirit—that is, our desires and yearnings—must be balanced because now they are egoistic. For this, we must place the good of society above our own good and feel ourselves as an integral component of this entire system.
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From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/13

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A Textbook About Inner Harmony

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe must formulate the integral method in an easy form from beginning to end. In fact, there is nothing complicated or complex about it. It speaks about the inner psychological structure of a person and about how he adapts himself to this world and uses it to change himself and enter into harmony with the environment that surrounds him.

A complex book would confuse a person. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate the material as simply as possible, for even to the greatest minds, these ideas are very complex. I say this from experience in meeting with many well-known people.

However, we are not writing a textbook for the common people. It is designed for the regular modern person who still does not understand what is happening to him even if is a genius.

The idea is that it is very difficult to destroy stereotypes. Therefore, we suggest a person close his eyes and throw himself into the group, like from a diving board into a pool, and only then will he begin to interact mutually with the group, without any preconditions, rejecting all of his stereotypes, and enter there like a small and naked person. He will begin to feel that there is an additional power in nature that we haven’t used. This is the power of society, the power of unity, the power of mutual guarantee.

If we begin to use it, our egos will transform from the evil inclination to the good inclination. If we implement the ego in the right way, we can correct it. To do this, it grew even more seventy years ago, and now it is beginning to outgrow itself, to digest itself like a cancer in the human body. If we begin to manage it in the right way, we will heal it. We have no other choice. Otherwise we will die.
[123044]
From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/13

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Come And See!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The modern person lives in a very complex state where the old models of behavior no longer work. Therefore, instinctively he searches for something new. In this sense, the model of integral behavior can interest him, but the nature of the matter is that he requires some kind of practical implication for this model.

Answer: Give me a practical egoistic significance.

Don’t be shy and hide from the word “egoistic.” In what way is our model worthwhile for the person? In the fact that, with its help, the altruistic balance of the ego is attained.

In order to acquire an altruistic characteristic, he somehow must sacrifice his ego. However, this is not a sacrifice because he reaches a circle of people, without any obligation and without signing anything. He is ready to listen and talk with the others. Moreover, they are completely unfamiliar people who are gathered and the meeting is not linked to eating and drinking, and not dating and courtship.

It is desirable to choose people who are more or less alike because we are talking about unity and integrality and people who are closest to integrality are similar to each other because it is easier for them to connect and unite between them.

In that, we begin to work with them. We don’t impose any preconditions on them. On the contrary, we say that their ego will only benefit from this.

Question: How do we show this to them?

Answer: We don’t show it in any form. Come and convince yourself! You will feel better; have a sensation of warmth, more security, more safety, an easier life, and will learn to overcome difficulties. It will be easier for you psychologically to endure whatever happens in this world.

First and foremost, we give you a new psychological basis through which you can overcome most problems because you will become protected. Certainly, a protected person feels healthier and happier, his productivity increases, and relationships improve at work, in the family, and so forth.

That is, we are not selling a “pig in a poke” to a person. Rather, we tell him that he will feel exactly this, and it could be even after the first practical lesson.
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From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/13

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